Category Archives: Conservative leadership

Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans under threat from ministers’ resignations

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Likely new PM could find no-deal option thwarted by senior Tories such as Philip Hammond

Boris Johnson’s hoped-for triumphant march into Downing Street this week is set to be dampened by a carefully timed series of resignations by senior ministers, who will retreat to the backbenches with a vow to thwart any moves towards a no-deal Brexit.

The announcements by Philip Hammond and David Gauke that they will step down on Wednesday, immediately before Johnson is likely to head to Buckingham Palace, highlight the perilous political climate for Theresa May’s expected successor.

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Boris Johnson warned: focus on Iran crisis or risk war

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Tory leadership rivals kept informed about spiralling crisis in the Gulf as ex-naval chief blasts government

Admiral Lord West: ‘our political establishment have been focused on the election of a new prime minister’

Boris Johnson will be tested by a major international crisis in his first days as prime minister, senior military figures and politicians have warned, after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in a move that raised tensions in the Gulf to new heights.

Johnson, who is expected to win the race to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and be installed as the new prime minister on Wednesday, was kept informed about the spiralling crisis on Saturday by his rival for the top job, Jeremy Hunt, whom he is expected to reappoint as foreign secretary.

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Boris blimp to join 9ft Nigel Farage on anti-Brexit march in London

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Pro-Europe grassroots groups to voice opposition to a Johnson premiership

Protesters will take to London’s streets on Saturday for a “No to Boris. Yes to Europe” march days ahead of Boris Johnson’s widely anticipated move into No 10.

A Boris toddler blimp was launched in Parliament Square at 10am, featuring salmon-pink skin, the politician’s trademark “faux-dishevelled hairstyle”, mismatched running gear and a Brexit-bus T-shirt, according to March for Change.

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Boris Johnson refuses to answer questions over party in Lebedev mansion

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Potential PM will not say whether he had police protection during weekend in Italy while foreign secretary

Boris Johnson is refusing to give details of a trip he made to Italy when he was foreign secretary for a weekend-long party held at a restored castle owned by the media billionaire and socialite Evgeny Lebedev.

The Guardian has learned that the likely next prime minister went to Palazzo Terranova in Perugia in April 2018 at the invitation of Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and the Independent who is renowned for hosting glamorous events for the world’s rich and famous.

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Boris Johnson’s support for EU revealed in Leon Brittan letter

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No 10 frontrunner wrote ‘pro-European letter’ to Tory peer’s widow a year before campaigning for leave

Boris Johnson revealed his support for the European Union’s single market in “a pro-European” letter written the year before he decided to campaign for leave, it has emerged.

The likely prime minister’s pro-EU market sympathies were said to be revealed in a letter of condolence to the wife of the late Tory politician Sir Leon Brittan, who died in January 2015.

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EU expected to reject outright Johnson and Hunt’s backstop plan

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Next PM will be told in ‘no uncertain terms’ that axing backstop amounts to no deal

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt’s Brexit plan to axe the Irish border backstop from the withdrawal agreement will be rejected outright by the European Union, EU sources have said.

Informed sources say that it is doomed to failure and if the next prime minister goes to Brussels with such a plan, he will be told in “no uncertain terms” that it amounts to a declaration of no deal.

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Boris Johnson claims his remarks were ‘misrepresented’ to Kim Darroch

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Tory frontrunner says former US envoy confirmed TV debate was a factor in his resignation

Boris Johnson has robustly defended his role in the resignation of Kim Darroch, claiming his remarks in a televised debate had been “misrepresented” to the former ambassador to Washington.

Darroch quit his post on Wednesday, after Donald Trump publicly expressed his fury about a series of highly critical reports that had been leaked to the Mail on Sunday.

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Amber Rudd embraces no-deal Brexit as ministers pitch to Johnson

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Cabinet members seek jobs under new PM with Liz Truss eyeing role of chancellor

Boris Johnson has begun receiving very public job applications from would-be cabinet ministers, with Liz Truss pitching to be a tax-slashing chancellor and Amber Rudd ditching her opposition to a no-deal Brexit in a bid to stay on as work and pensions secretary.

With Johnson on the brink of No 10, senior Tories have begun laying out their credentials for positions in his potential cabinet – some with more hope than others.

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Tory MPs condemn Boris Johnson over Kim Darroch resignation

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Just one Conservative comes to defence of No 10 frontrunner accused of lack of leadership

Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised by fellow Tory MPs over his role in Sir Kim Darroch’s decision to resign as the UK ambassador to the US, with one backbencher saying the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest should come to the Commons to apologise.

An urgent question in the Commons about Darroch’s departure, which followed the leak of diplomatic cables critical of Donald Trump’s White House, resulted in repeated condemnation of Johnson, and only one Conservative MP came to his defence.

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Johnson has thrown US ambassador under the bus, say top Tories

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Theresa May said to be considering controversial step of appointing new envoy

Boris Johnson is under pressure over his role in Sir Kim Darroch’s resignation as British ambassador to Washington, with critics accusing the likely next prime minister of throwing the envoy “under the bus”.

In a shock move which prompted the senior civil servant at the Foreign Office to call an all-staff meeting to reassure “shaken” diplomats, Darroch announced on Wednesday he could no longer continue in his role following a leak of official cables in which he criticised Donald Trump.

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Bitter blue-on-blue as Hunt and Johnson clash on live TV

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Hunt accuses rival Johnson of putting ambition before country in head-to-head Tory leadership debate

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt escalated the blue-on-blue warfare in Tuesday night’s televised debate, trading blows on which potential prime minister could see through a no-deal Brexit, as Hunt repeatedly emphasised his rival’s refusal to answer questions.

The bitter back-and-forth, which will raise questions over whether Hunt could serve in a Johnson government after the aspersions he cast on his rival, saw the foreign secretary accuse Johnson of putting personal ambition above the welfare of the country.

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MPs vote in favour of extending same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland by 383 to 73 – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political news, including the row over the UK ambassador’s leaked memos and latest on Tory leadership contest

Jeremy Hunt, the underdog in the Tory leadership contest, has told President Trump on Twitter his comments about Theresa May “disrespectful and wrong”.

1/2 @realDonaldTrump friends speak frankly so I will: these comments are disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country. Your diplomats give their private opinions to @SecPompeo and so do ours! You said the UK/US alliance was the greatest in history and I agree... https://t.co/hNeBWmyyVN

2/2...but allies need to treat each other with respect as @theresa_may has always done with you. Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our Ambassador stays.

MPs have voted to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, unless the power-sharing executive is revived by 21 October, by 383 votes to 73 - a majority of 310.

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Boris Johnson: I’ll make UK ‘match fit’ for no-deal Brexit

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Tory leadership frontrunner pledges to leave the EU by 31 October ‘come what may’

Boris Johnson has pledged to get the UK “match fit for no deal” to ensure it can leave the EU on 31 October “come what may”.

The Conservative leadership frontrunner said there would be “no second chances” as he stressed that the Halloween deadline was real, “not fake”, in a comment aimed at his rival Jeremy Hunt.

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Scottish secretary warns Johnson: no-deal Brexit could split UK

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David Mundell says Nicola Sturgeon would use October exit to push for independence

Boris Johnson is being warned that embracing a disruptive no-deal Brexit would fuel nationalism in Scotland and risk the future of the union, as both opponents and supporters predict that he will now claim a decisive victory in the Tory leadership election.

Related: Brexit must work for the whole UK to see off Scottish nationalism

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Johnson pledges to make all immigrants learn English

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Tory leadership contender says English is not first language in ‘too many parts of our country’

Boris Johnson has said there are “too many parts of our country” where English is not spoken as a first language and that he would require all immigrants to Britain to learn English.

At a hustings event for the Conservative leadership race in Darlington on Friday, the former mayor of London praised the capital’s diversity but suggested some communities were not doing enough to integrate into society.

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Brexit: Hammond warns Johnson and Hunt that parliament will block no deal – live news

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Follow the day’s political developments, including the latest on the Conservative leadership race as 160,000 Tory members begin voting

Boris Johnson has apologised for offending Scots, while condemning the SNP’s record in government and insisting that a no-deal Brexit is “extremely unlikely” in an interview in the Press and Journal.

Asked about a series of magazine articles in which he described being a Scottish MP as a “political disability” and said that “government by a Scot is just not conceivable”, Johnson replied:

“Of course I am sorry if people take offence at distorted quotations from old newspaper articles – but one of the things I want to make clear is that Conservatives must reach out beyond the Westminster bubble and that means not just speaking in waffle and jargon”.

Boris Johnson has been shearing sheep in North Yorkshire before the hustings in Darlington today.

Good luck @BorisJohnson #BackBoris pic.twitter.com/2dqd2FRCbK

Our house, two Tory members voted for Boris today ... #backboris pic.twitter.com/2mf5zeM0i9

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Brexit: Starmer tells Johnson MPs will ‘stand in his way’ to stop no deal

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Shadow minister says research shows even a no-deal Brexit would need Commons approval

Keir Starmer has warned Boris Johnson that MPs will “do everything to stand in his way” if he tries to force through a “bad deal or a no-deal Brexit”.

Johnson, the frontrunner in the race to be Britain’s next prime minister, has suggested he will “disaggregate” Theresa May’s “otherwise defunct” withdrawal agreement and implement its less contentious elements.

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Boris Johnson says no-deal Brexit claims ‘wildly overdone’ as Hammond says it would cost Treasury £90bn – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Boris Johnson has been tweeting from Belfast.

Fantastic to be here in Northern Ireland speaking to our Conservative & Unionist family. I will never accept a deal that seeks to bind us in the EU’s customs union forever, or which divides our United Kingdom. In everything I do as PM, I will strengthen our union of four nations. pic.twitter.com/hI3QLkuxrw

And this is what Boris Johnson said at the Belfast hustings about a no-deal Brexit. (See 12.58pm.) He called it at one point a WTO Brexit (which is what Nigel Farage calls no-deal.) Johnson said:

I think we should be very positive about Brexit, and we should not be terrified of a no-deal Brexit. We should not be terrified of coming out on WTO terms.

We will make sure we look after the agricultural interest ... whatever is necessary to protect farmers. We will make sure that just-in-time supply chains are protected, and I think a lot of the negativity about a WTO Brexit has been wildly over-done.

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Boris Johnson ‘might never enter No 10’ if MPs withdraw support

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Constitutional experts say new Tory leader could be blocked from becoming prime minister without a Commons majority

Boris Johnson could be stopped from becoming prime minister even if he is elected as the new Conservative leader, two of Britain’s leading constitutional experts have said.

With Tory MPs threatening to withdraw support for the party under his stewardship, Johnson is warned that he could be prevented from ever entering Downing Street should it become clear he cannot command a majority in the House of Commons.

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Tory leadership: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt at Exeter hustings – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the G20 summit and Tory leadership contest

On Iran, Mr Johnson said: “We need to very vigilant about Iran and that government.

“They are bent on all sorts of mischief in the region. One of the areas that Donald Trump talks sense, and there are many areas, it is right to work with the Americans and Europeans friends to constrain Iran in the region.

Boris Johnson said that stamp duty land tax in London was causing “huge problems” amid reports he is pondering abolishing the levy on homes worth less than £500,000 and reversing the stamp duty increases on more expensive homes.

On reports that he called the French “turds” in a BBC documentary aired last year that was cut, he responded “I have no recollection of this comment”.

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